Andiamo! Citalia Magazine Autumn 2023

The Perfect Pick Me Up:
Espresso
The small yet mighty espresso is a quintessential part
of daily Italian routine. Discover its origins and position
in the country’s culture.
The espresso. It’s not a bean, it’s not a roast…
It’s quite simply a method of brewing: to get the most concentrated
form of coffee in the speediest of ways. The outcome? A delightfully
intense and rich shot of coffee that celebrates the essence of the bean.
It can be drunk first thing in the morning, or as a pick me up in the
afternoon.
Some coffee historians would label espresso as the first instant coffee,
however that would be insulting to Italians, as it’s a drink of good
chemistry and ritual combined.
Like most Italian culinary traditions,
there’s an art to the espresso.
The production of an espresso is incredibly uncomplicated, using
just hot water and 100% finely ground coffee. However, careful
precision dictates its perfection: you must delicately balance the grind,
temperature, and pressure.
The barista is of equal importance to the bean quality and machine
efficiency, as dictated by what’s known as the ‘four m’s’: maccina,
macinazione, miscela, mano (the machine, the proper grinding, the
coffee blend and roast, and the skilled hands).
A History of Italian Coffee
Coffee was first discovered and sipped as standard in the Arabian
Peninsula, before being imported into Europe throughout the 16th
and 17th centuries where a flourishing café culture grew - but not
initially in Italy.
When coffee reached the port city of Venice, the church initially
opposed it, believing it to be the drink of the devil due to its energising
properties. Thankfully all this changed in the 18th century when Pope
Clement VIII tasted coffee for the first time and enjoyed it so much
that he gave his papal approval.
The drink quickly became a favourite among artistic and literary circles
and specialist cafés were created, like Venice’s Caffè Florian in San
Marco Piazza, which was established in 1720 and remains open for
business today.
Brewed in the traditional Turkish method in the
19th century Italian coffee houses, it would take
five minutes for each individual cup of coffee.
By the 1930s, gentlemen’s coffee houses began to be replaced with
easy-going coffee bars for the working classes. These were fast-paced
environments, where customers would stand, have a shot of espresso,
then head right back to work. As part of Mussolini’s fascism campaign,
the word barman was replaced by an Italianised version: barista.
Even today, particularly in neighbourhood piazzas, you’ll find people
having an espresso standing up, and it’s a sentimental ritual for most
Italians, having witnessed their forefathers doing it.
The Italian coffee culture influenced the world, as most drinks and
cafés now use the Italian-style extraction as the base for all coffee
drinks.
If you drink a cappuccino in Italy, you’ll notice it has far less milk than
most British cappuccinos - and even the espresso will taste different -
and that’s something Italians don’t take lightly.
Incredibly proud of their coffee culture, the Italian government
has frequently tried to restrict the phrase Italian espresso, making
thwarted appeals to the World Trade Organisation, while Italian
roasting companies have lodged several unsuccessful complaints
in American courts.
While the Italian coffee culture may be global, there’s only one place
in the world to truly appreciate it: Italy.
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